The next day I asked my friend what was going on in OKC on a Sunday morning that might be visually interesting. He called his assistant, who is up on everything, and she said, “Drag Brunch,” and I said, “Perfect!” We got to the bar and I explained my America project to the manager and asked if I could get backstage to see the performers preparing. He was hesitant, so I went and got a copy of my book UNPOSED to show him. He went through it silently until he came to the picture of the world’s first legal gay marriage in Amsterdam. At that, he shut the book and said, “You’re good to go. Sorry for being so suspicious, but this is Oklahoma and people have legitimate concerns about who’s photographing them in this bar and why.” It wasn’t hard to read between the lines. Sad, but that’s still where we’re at in 2012.

Having performed on stage hundreds of times myself, I know the last thing you want in the moments before you step in front of an audience is a photographer you don’t know snapping away at you while you’re trying to think about what you need to do. The performers backstage were extraordinarily kind and gracious with their time, and when they got on stage they were hilarious.

 Leica M9 35mm Summilux

The highlight of the week is the Friday evening cruise. Two thousand classics driving around a loop in downtown Redding as thousands of spectators watch from lawn chairs along the route.

Saturday there were races at the Redding Drag Strip. Some of these cars were also in the cruise, but most were there just to race. If you’ve never attended a drag race before but hope to, here are some tips: bring earplugs and don’t stand behind hot rods smoking their tires unless you enjoy rocks spraying your body at the speed of light.

Sunday I left my friends and headed for the coast, stopping for coffee in a bar called “The Diggins” in Weaverville. I met Will and his friend Peggy there and spoke for almost an hour. Will served in Vietnam and came back disillusioned with the war and the government. He threw his medals over the fence onto the White House lawn and began dozens of trips hitch-hiking across the country. He had many stories of strangers’ generosity and his ascetic life on the road. “If I woke up with a couple of cigarettes and good weather–it was a great day.” He got picked up by an old truck driver once and soon wondered if the old guy knew where he was going. Will asked him if he’d ever been lost. “Never been lost…been confused for a few days before, but never lost.”

Will with another patron of The Diggins, William, who was born and raised in Weaverville.

I left Weaverville later than I’d planned and headed on to Junction City, population 680 in 2010. I met a gentleman named Bill who owns a garage there. Though he was working on a truck at the time, his passion is working with bicycles. He showed me some amazing bikes and told me of riding with Greg Lemond and Lance Armstrong, “You’d be riding with Lemond and when he said, ‘Okay–let’s go!’ you knew you were in for some pain.” He knew a lot about a lot of things, and when I told him of my project, he suggested I go check out a Buddhist temple a few hundred yards behind his shop.

As I drove up a young man named Timothy ran out and greeted me. It turns out the area is called Chagdud Gonpa Rigdzin Ling and is located on beautiful grounds with a spectacular view of the Trinity Alps. It was a busy Sunday afternoon at the temple, but Timothy gave me a quick tour. There are huge prayer wheels on the grounds along with stupas which looked gorgeous in the late afternoon light. After I left the temple, I headed on to Eureka, California where I spent last night. This morning it’s on to Portland and then I turn right and start a two week drive across the country to NYC to teach a street photography workshop for Leica Camera.

Leica M9 35 summilux and 28 summicron

I was in Florida to teach two Leica Weekends on street photography in Miami Beach. I drove down from Atlanta, stopping to pick up fellow instructor Tom Smith, and stopped at a number of attractions along the way, including NASA, which was showing its Christmas spirit. The workshops were productive and fun–the “Distinctive Shopping Experience” was taken during one of the classes. After the workshops I stopped by a championship dog show for a day, which I highly recommend–they’re sort of like “Toddlers & Tiaras” for dogs. I then drove down to see Key West, where I met some folks living in their car and selling sea shells for gas money. They needed gas to drive their car to look for work. Traveling back north on smaller roads was like a trip back in time. I visited the Mermaids at Weeki Wachee, and farther north I took a picture of a business logo that seems like it could’ve been taken just as easily in 1932.

I’ve been to Florida many times, but this trip left a lasting impression.

Leica M9, 35 and 50 Summilux.

A friend pointed out that this picture is unusual in that it shows three people waiting for a train in the year 2011 and none are staring at a smartphone. Here’s to being lost in thought.

Leica M9, 35 Summilux

In the first part of 2011, I, along with many Americans, I’m sure, had the sinking feeling that the US was becoming different somehow–the people were more polarized, the civil discourse was more cynical and angry, the government was dysfunctional and of course the economy remained mired in a seemingly endless recession. I wondered if our situation would remain stagnant and then worsen, or if we’d come together as one and pull ourselves out of it as we had so often before.

Either way, I felt it was imperative to visually document the country at what I felt and continue to feel is a critical point in our history. So I decided to begin a project that would last through the national elections of 2012. It would entail driving through all major regions of the country–north, south, east, west and midwest–and I’d shoot without a particular goal in mind other than to capture America and Americans as I see them over this two year period. The Latin phrase “e pluribus unum” means, “out of many, one,” and has been a de facto motto for the country since it was suggested in 1776. By choosing it as the name of this project, I hope to show the vast geographic, ethnic, and economic diversity of Americans, while never forgetting that out of the many, we are still one–each of us an American.

The project unofficially kicked off, appropriately enough, on the fourth of July–Independence Day–in Independence, California, population roughly 669. The town of Independence holds a Fourth of July parade every year that draws many times its normal population. When I was there I heard visitors with German, French, and British accents, among others. The people of Independence were exceedingly gracious and hospitable towards me, and the two and half days I spent with them were fun and productive.

So as I sit here in my hotel room in Gretna, Louisiana, just outside New Orleans, my hope and intention is to post pictures here at least once a week, possibly more, creating a visual journal of where I’ve been and providing updates on where I’m heading. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.

With that, please enjoy a few shots from the 4th of July in Independence, California, 2011.

Opening Reception January 13th, 6-8pm

LINK

Craig Semetko – NDR

The cover shot of “UNPOSED” was taken in Dam Square in Amsterdam in 2001. I had not been a photographer for too long at the time and I was constantly reading quotes from my favorite photographers and looking at their work for inspiration. When shooting the couple in the shot, the words of the great war photographer Robert Capa were echoing in my head, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.” In general, this is excellent advice. But I had shot almost a roll of film of the couple from a few feet away with a 90mm lens and none of what I was doing felt “right.” I knew I was simply taking glorified head shots of the pair.  In the midst of this dissatisfaction the words of another master popped into my mind. I’m paraphrasing, but Henri Cartier-Bresson essentially said, “Good pictures have to have context.” I immediately took off the 90, put on a 50 and took a few steps back. The shot you see was the last frame on the last roll of film I had with me.

Capa and HCB were both right, of course. How close you should be varies with each situation and subject matter. In this instance I was so close I was missing the shot. Once I put on a shorter lens and moved back a little, I got an interesting middle ground and background, which made for an interesting shot.

A few months after I took this picture a friend asked me to hang some of my work in his camera shop. The day I was hanging the prints the great jazz photographer William Claxton came in to buy some film for a shoot he had the next day. As I hung the pictures from the stepladder he asked, “Is this your work?” “Yes,” I mumbled, if you can mumble one word. He nodded slightly as he slowly looked down the line of prints. When he came to this shot, he pointed at it with a laugh, “Ha ha!” he chuckled, “Cartier-Bresson!” That was a good day.